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Originally Posted by Hawkerace
What happened? Thats the only part of the pacific war I don't know much about
what happened? And What was sent to deal with this.. any casualties? What really went down. Was it a waste of money, ammo and men for just two islands? What if Japan invaded more of Alaska?
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The Japanese invasion of Attu and Kiska were all part of the deversion plan pertaining to the Battle of Midway that was designed to siphon-off major units of the US Pacific Fleet in that direction while the Japanese Fleet Main Body invaded and took Midway.
The taking of Attu and Kiska were also seen by the Japanese to be a way of forstalling any further air bombing attacks on their homeland after the Doolittle Raid.
The Japanese captured and executed some military weather teams on one of the islands, but nothing more.
Japan was in no condition to invade or hold any other parts of Alaska. In fact, they did the Americans a favor, in that because of the woeful transportation conditions and lack of roads to Alaska, the US Army embarked upon the building of the ALCAN Highway that linked Alaska with the Northern US.